The Rate of Pregnancy-Related Deaths in Texas Has Nearly Doubled in Less Than 5 Years—and No One Knows Why

According to a new report from Obstetrics and Gynecology, the number of pregnancy-related deaths among Texas women has nearly doubled between 2010 and 2014—and neither doctors nor researchers understand why.

Though pregnancy-related deaths are on the rise throughout the country (which is scary enough), they have seen the greatest increase in Texas, the Dallas Morning News reports. Between 2006 and 2010, the number of women who died while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnant totaled between 18.1 and 18.6 deaths for every 100,000 births. By 2011, that number increased to 33 deaths per 100,000; by 2014, it jumped to 35.8.

In 2010, a total of 72 Texan women died of pregnancy-related causes—a number that, by 2012, more than doubled to 148.

The World Health Organization reports that 99 percent of pregnancy-related deaths occur in developing nations. For developed countries, the rate averages 12 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births. The disparity between the rest of the developed world and United States (and Texas in particular) is unclear, but sccording to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease, high blood pressure, bleeding, and infection are often leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths within the U.S.

Texas legislators have long been aware of the increase in deaths, and the Department of State Health Services deployed the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force in 2013 to investigate the spike in the mortality rate among Texas women and determine the cause of this sharp increase in deaths.

Additionally, researchers have noted that the rise in pregnancy-relate deaths in Texas does coincide with the 2011 cuts to health care providers, where family planning budgets were slashed by two-thirds. Though the study did not infer any direct correlation between the decrease in funding and the increase in pregnancy-related deaths, they did note that that two occurred around the same time.

"In the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval, the doubling of a mortality rate within a two year period in a state with almost 400,000 annual births seems unlikely," researchers behind the Obstetrics and Gynecology study said.

The Texas task force is aware of the "complex problem" on their hands, and is expected to deliver their first report to the Texas state legislature on September 1.